Environment

Hip-High Hail? Massive TX Storm Produces Stunning Pics of 4-Foot Hail ‘Drifts’

DALLAS, Texas (The Blaze/AP) — It’s mid-April and the temperatures in Amarillo, Texas, have been reaching up into 80s this week. So, why were maintenance crews using snowplows to clear the roads Thursday? Turns out a severe, slow-moving and rather isolated storm pelted the area with several inches of hail, coupled with heavy rain that caused the small pellets of ice to form drifts as high as 4 feet.

Severe Texas Storm Causes Flooding and 4 Foot High Hail Drifts

Potter County firefighter stands next to one of the hail drifts. (Photo: Potter County Fire Department via NWS)

Some motorists were trapped in muddy drifts that were waist-to-shoulder high.

“It was crazy,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Justyn Jackson said about the strange storm, which hit Wednesday afternoon. The hail was “real small” but there was a lot of it in a concentrated area, accumulating 2- to 4-feet deep, he said.

Severe Texas Storm Causes Flooding and 4 Foot High Hail Drifts

(Photo: NWS/Facebook)

Some reports include skeptics saying the pictures of the hail piles look fake, but NOAA clarifies in a statement that feet of hail were not merely dropped in one place but pushed along due to flooding to form the waist-high drifts.

Watch this raw footage of the storm:

The rural area where the storm struck was mainly ranch land, about 25 miles north of Amarillo and south of Dumas. Rainwater gushed across the parched land, washing dirt and then mud into the hail, pushing it all onto U.S. 287, Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas said.

“There were just piles of hail,” said Maribel Martinez with the Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management. “Some of the cars were just buried in hail and people were trapped in their cars.”

Severe Texas Storm Causes Flooding and 4 Foot High Hail Drifts

(Photo: AP/Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office)

The southbound lane of the highway, which was shut down around 5 p.m. Wednesday, finally reopened early Thursday morning, shortly after midnight though water remained on the road until around 5 a.m., said Paul Braun, a Texas Department of Transportation spokesman in Amarillo.

Severe Texas Storm Causes Flooding and 4 Foot High Hail Drifts

(Photo: NWS/Facebook)

MSNBC reports some skeptics of the hail saying they just looked like piles of mud or that the quality of the photos hinted at a hoax, but Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the weather service office in Amarillo, said the dark color of the piles is due to it being “very dusty around here,” which colored the hail as it fell. Here‘s more from skeptics and Scotten’s response:

“Serious do not think this is 100% hail!!!” commented one person.

“It’s a lite dusting of hail on some damn rocks,” said another person, referring to the image of a firefighter standing next to what could be taken for boulders.

“I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas,” Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the weather service office in Amarillo, told msnbc.com.

“That was 4 feet of ice” that was compacted by rain and floodwater across a wide area, she added.

Severe Texas Storm Causes Flooding and 4 Foot High Hail Drifts

NWS reports hail is brown due to the high moisture in the area and winds that blew dust around. (Photo: NWS/Facebook)

Emergency received several swift-water rescue calls as the road was flooded in low-lying areas. Rural fences and vehicles also suffered hail damage but there were no reported injuries.

Braun said work crews stayed in roadside ditches Thursday afternoon diligently trying to break up the ice jams and debris that had fused together and prevented drainage.

“We’ve got five, 6-foot high icebergs along the roadway,” Braun said. “If we get another rainstorm it will flood again.”

But the National Weather Service said it’s starting to clear up and should be a sunny weekend.

“That’s a good thing since it will take a few days for that hail to melt,” said Andrew Moulton, an NWS meteorologist in Amarillo.

Check out the NWS Facebook profile for more pictures of the flooding and hail here.

Comments (98)

1 2 3
  • 4xeverything
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:48am

    Awesome!

    Report Post » 4xeverything  
  • ktmrider1
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:01am

    SEE! SEE! algore is right! global warming! global warming!

    Report Post » ktmrider1  
    • blackyb
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:14pm

      The seasons changing is mentioned in the end time prophecies of the Bible. He speaks of sightings in the sky and stones falling from the sky. The Lord is coming. The ones who promote this environmental mess are distracting people from the Truth. God made it and He will control it. He cleans up our messes all the time. I imagine he is getting about tired of all of what is going on.

      Disobedience to Him, parents, and the law: Men with men working that which is unseemley, women changing the natural use of women, lawlessness, lies and deceit, a falling away from the Bible, mockers, people promoting sin, men wearing the apparel of women and women wearing that which pertaneth to men (wounder if it means a phoney male wangus?.) People coming as false prophets, and anti-Christs, people following after all manner of sin and laciviousness, etc. Yep, it is quite all out in the open, people seem to notice things going on more as time goes on, whereas they use to sort of let it all pass. It seems to all be coming together.

      Report Post » blackyb  
    • duhwut
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 7:53pm

      BLACKYB,

      dude. uhh. wut?

      why don’t you just lay down for a while and keep your fingers off the keyboard for a bit.
      then go outside and do something to keep busy and entertained. youre posting some wacky stuff.

      Report Post » duhwut  
    • Keen-Site
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 12:05am

      I knew there would be religious people commenting on here, extreme weather happens all the time! The earth goes through stages, it has since it was created, (The world is not 10,000 years old. FACT) It is much much older and weather changes are completely 100% natural, and no one try coming back with, “but god is nature” ok, i mean i respect all people religious beliefs, always have, but seeing these comments made me have to speak up.

      Report Post »  
  • HealthyLoser
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:55am

    How does an ice-age begin?
    No one knows because there is little recorded history for it.
    This time will be different.

    Thank you Glenn.

    Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 12:35pm

      People can’t live through an ice age, so recording what immediately preceeded it would be pointless. There would be nobody to see your recorded history.

      Report Post »  
    • AlienEarthling
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 12:53pm

      @Rogue,
      Actually, humans could survive an Ice Age, and there are ruins and carvings all over the world that date back to the last ice age. Its not like the entire earth was covered in ice. The equator would prob be a comfortable temperature.

      Report Post »  
    • SgtB
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:30pm

      Rowgue, I believe that you just got POWNED! Unless you are a hard core Jesus freak and you believe the Earth is only 4,000 years old, then you obviously understand that humans have been around for tens of thousands of years or as much as 200,000 by some accounts and that hominids in general have been on this planet for millions of years. An ice age means only a small drop in average global temperature that over the course of a millenia will cause glacial ice to build up. That is all. It is not a “The Day After Tomorrow” type of event that spawns hurricanes of ice and wolves to escape from the zoo and start eating people.

      Are you even capable of rational thought?

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • Justice777
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:59pm

      @SGTB It’s 6000 years actually. And only fools believe the made up numbers that various “scientists” use and increase each year to get published in journals. You can prove their dating methods are based on assumptions and the dates change. And of course, how nice it is to say something is 200,000 years old when nobody was around then, nor is there any proof of those dates whatsoever, just conjecture. But it’s also no surprise that the godless are fools. “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Psalms 14:1

      Report Post »  
    • larrytrick
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:01pm

      OH PLEASE! Stop reading your Science fiction books and listening to the Democrats. There’s not going to be any Ice Age!

      Report Post »  
    • DeathTongue
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:04pm

      @Justice777

      none are so blind as those that will not see.

      Report Post »  
  • llotus
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:19am

    I hope someone has told the three stooges that are coming to Tulsa today and this weekend that the possibility for a tornado outbreak is very high. The weather guys here are pretty good with their forcasts. Too good. I heard that on the radio this morning. Also heard there was another shooting near Admiral and Memorial. Black man shot a black man and a white man. No serious wounds. Also heard weapons sales uo 30% this week. Shotguns with short barrels were high on the list. And….. Gun sales are neccisarily skyrocketing. Scares me. That was all the news from Tulsa.Lotus.

    Report Post »  
    • wdittgasn
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 12:03pm

      Anyone that invested in gun manufacturers will make a killing. Obama=gun sales.

      Report Post » wdittgasn  
  • KansasBob
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:15am

    Spending 20 years of my life in that area, I completely believe this phenomena. I have seen hail on I-27 at Hale Center, north of Lubbock completely block an underpass with hail to 6 foot depth, that closed the interstate….. yes and it was in the summer and they needed front end loaders to open the underpass.

    Report Post »  
  • hbeachbum714
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:03am

    Has anyone checked this against H.A.A.R.P. activity?

    Report Post »  
    • Thors Hammer
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:12am

      I was driving in the OK panhandle when a dust storm came along (blowing red dirt) then it started raining at the same time. Our car was covered in red mud! Yes, there is strange weather in that area.

      Report Post »  
    • Ruler4You
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:17am

      Seen this in Colorado in the early 1980s. Hail 3-4″ rolled down hill and actually lifted houses off their foundations in the bottom of the draw.

      Report Post » Ruler4You  
    • ProbIemSoIver
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:52am

      HAARP was my first thought.

      Here people, watch this video about how the “government” does this.

      It is only a 3 minute video:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgynYoVnkvM

      Report Post » ProbIemSoIver  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:06am

      So then HAARP caused the Great Dust Bowl 100 years ago? Did HAARP cause the weather anomalies 100 years before that too? Wow that HAARP has been around along time. It must have caused the medieval warm-up also. Somehow I think HAARP is for communications. But, a bankrupt government is real; a giant Housing Bubble getting ready to break in China is real; people becoming more loony is real; the chance of an asteroid hitting earth is real; and the possibility of over-due volcanic eruptions is real. And many more real things.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • lionshield
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:17am

      look like the elite turn on the weather-machince for two-week spring vacation
      for easter. it‘s going to go back up into the 80’s in kentucky again after 15 of april.

      Report Post » lionshield  
    • SgtB
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:33pm

      Did ItsJustTim actually make a decent comment without replying over and over to himself?

      Report Post » SgtB  
    • ChiefGeorge
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 3:32pm

      I’m 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean in Socal! I watch daily to weekly chemtrails that cloud up the skys over the coastal to inland areas that the Airliners traffic the skys. Some days they begin early and are laying the stuff down clear across the horizon and they build upon the areas that are clearly being selected due to the release points one can see. All this stuff blows in the easterly winds and gives us tremendous weather conditions. SIlver Oxide and who knows what else is being used and now we hear the politcians say its your money or your life because of the weather changes that they say are a result of just everyday modern life…I will contend there is a human cause and its puposely manufactured through the use of our own day to day airways traffic. Some days its clear and the jets stream nothing, then other days its haze build up from the contrails. Observe and report for yourself. Something is afoot here.

      Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • INTHEBROTHERHOOD
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:17pm

      thi is scalar waves ,crossing vectors,compliments of the hammer and sicle boys.

      Report Post » INTHEBROTHERHOOD  
    • INTHEBROTHERHOOD
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:28pm

      this was caused by scalar waves, crossing beams , out of russia. they have been doing it since 1983.

      Report Post » INTHEBROTHERHOOD  
    • phishing4men
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:37pm

      SGTB
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:33pm
      Did ItsJustTim actually make a decent comment without replying over and over to himself?
      SGTB is such an idiot. They are to be pitied/

      Report Post »  
  • ScreaminEagle
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:03am

    Looks like a giant mud slushie.

    Report Post » ScreaminEagle  
  • Deane
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:59am

    wow what a lousy Photoshop job on all these lol…I’m surprised anyone believes this

    Report Post »  
    • COFemale
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 11:53am

      Some people who are faced with the plain simple truth, do not have enough common sense to recognize it. Sorry, I have experienced 4″ inch deep hail in Colorado that when compacted and scraped off the street makes 4 foot mounds.

      Don’t be a dweeb.

      Report Post » COFemale  
    • eyedoc2020
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:43pm

      Hey, I live here….It happened.

      Report Post »  
    • CrazyHeart
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:25pm

      Photo-shopped,,,,??? Get real,,,

      Report Post » CrazyHeart  
  • JACKTHETOAD
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:59am

    Here in northeastern Pa., we’ll get an occasional ground covering of hail, but nothing on that scale yet. (Hail,Hail Hailstone! Woo woo woo woo…)

    Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:35am

    It‘s the damnedest thing the way when there used to only be maybe a billion people in the world people didn’t really get in the way of weather events, and now with 8 billion people in the world every storm seems to affect communities of people. Wow it must be God doing it, or maybe it’s because people multiply like animals instead of Mankind.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • kabenninger
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:39pm

      It‘s the damnedest thing the way when there used to only be maybe a billion people in the world people didn’t really get in the way of weather events, and now with 8 billion people in the world every storm seems to affect communities of people. Wow it must be God doing it, or maybe it’s because people multiply like animals instead of Mankind . . .

      You say some of the most profound things I‘ve never heard and can’t understand.
      When there were only a billion people in the world, we certainly didn’t have the capability to see the weather or local news at the same time it was actually happening. We may have heard about an incident “somewhere out west” a year after it happened.
      Weather has devastated families and communities since the beginning of time. Just think a little. My dad always said “engage your mind before you open your mouth”
      God told us to go forth and multiply – he didn’t say “Oh yeah – but once you hit 6 billion I want you to stop”
      Unfortunately with all the hype about global warming, allegedly brought on my the masses, any storm is going to played out in the news, to the max, in order to make a point for Gore, who is making millions off his lies.

      Report Post »  
    • VanPastorMan
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 12:29pm

      Are we up to 8 Bill yet? That seems a little high to me.

      Report Post »  
  • LouC57
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:34am

    I have to laugh at many of the comments. If you’ve never lived here, be advised we do have some wicked weather. A few years ago there was a hail storm in San Marcos area, baseball size with spikes on them! SM has a huge outlet mall. Almost every store lost their windows, all exposed cars were damaged, and yes, cows and deer, etc were killed. Went to dinner that night, a waitress was black and blue all over her arms–she’d gotten caught in it, lucky it didn’t kill her.

    Report Post »  
    • orbin
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 2:23pm

      I’m in the SM area as well and remember that storm very well. scary day.

      Report Post » orbin  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:27am

    Oh wow, good thing for National News or we may not have heard about it, and looking out my window at the weather it’s been pretty much uniform for 30 plus years.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • scuba13
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:37am

      Well when you live in an insane asylum, I would think you never see outside or do you get day trips to the local children’s petting zoo?

      Report Post » scuba13  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:47am

      Nah, I‘d say it’s more along the lines of you being the one who is the psycho buying into all the hype. The fact of the matter is that there has always been green winters, and snow even all the way into June, and when people build a big city near the ocean sooner or later a freak storm is going to flatten it. It has more to do with the earth being here first.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:50am

      The weather isn’t going crazy, it’s the people that is going crazy.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • scuba13
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 10:53am

      And you ought to know about crazy Tim.

      Report Post » scuba13  
  • RightUnite
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:24am

    Oooooohhhhhhh!! Think of all the water that are contained in all that hail!!!

    Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:21am

    .
    I sure would have hated to be a cow standing out there……

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • thenabrd
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:07am

    when we lived in the s.e. corner of n.m. we would get “muddy” hail as well as “muddy” rain. they have a windy season out there with lots of blowing dirt. so when you get the occasional storm, it really does rain “mud” and drop “muddy” hail!!! there‘s nothing like going outside and finding your car looking like it was just splattered with mud even though it hadn’t left the driveway, lol!!!!

    Report Post » thenabrd  
  • Yeshua2Come
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:06am

    Can you say, “eschatological”?

    Report Post »  
  • John WIS.
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 9:00am

    WOW!

    COOL!

    Nature is awesome…isn’t it?

    Report Post »  
  • Sargon
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:53am

    Glad I don’t own a car dealership in Texas.

    Report Post »  
  • grimmy
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:53am

    Not the first time thats happened in Texas,wont be the last either.This same thing happened a few years back,only here in Texas i guess;p

    Report Post »  
  • lisa2994
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:44am

    GOD did say there would be weather phenoms we have not seen the likes of before.. That is a unusual amount of hail for certain.

    Report Post » lisa2994  
  • Minnaloushe
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:42am

    Bush is obviously to blame.

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:51am

      Don’t forget “climate change” .. ALGORE might need another mansion.

      Report Post »  
  • lonestarbill
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:40am

    I heard they got rid of it by selling it to NY as landfill.

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:52am

      LOL .. bet they don’t even “get it” when it arrives in freezer trucks ;-)

      Report Post »  
  • MidWestMom
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:34am

    freaky….

    Report Post »  
  • cjherin
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:33am

    Wow. I’ve never seen hail like that. Incredible photos.

    Report Post » cjherin  
  • Mudslinger
    Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:30am

    Holy Hail Storm Batman!!!

    Report Post »  
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